Tee-hee! I was at a newcomer’s lecture at Bainbridge Gardens and a titter went through the group when this plant was introduced as “Sweet Box” – somehow there is just no escaping the sex appeal of this plant.

Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) is supposed to offer delightful winter scent. I about danced when I found one at our local university plant sale, and planted it just right, neither too close nor too far from the front path. So, you’d walk up to the house through a magical cloud of daphne scent, spiced with whiffs of hyacinth and narcissus, then be enraptured by the novel fragrance of wintersweet.

Settle down, schmettle down, it would be an olfactory orgy.

Alas, things didn’t work out that way. The whatever it was in the pot wasn’t wintersweet (I still haven’t taxed it out). And one by one, the daphnes have died, as daphnes do down here in North Carolina. The two remaining ones are still delightful, perfect perfumed accompaniment in the chill clear air for watching the eclipse last night. But I know they are fleeting, and enjoy them as such, with gratitude for every scented moment they share.

But your post, Amy, reawakens hope. Maybe, I should just look around a little more. I need that kind of boost in mid-February. Thanks!

What a fun post. I have loved this plant for so long! I keep trying to get other people to plant it in their gardens, but they usually pass it over. I had it in my Bay Area garden and planted it last year here in New York. It’s February and 30-something degrees and it’s starting to bloom!

I’ve had a Sarcococca for about three years now in hopes of a lovely late-winter perfume in my garden. I suspect mine hasn’t flowered yet. It just sits there quietly, photosynthesizing and growing a tiny bit, but no flowers. I’m not going to shovel prune him in any case–it could well be our winters or too much shade, and anything that isn’t brown-dead in winter is welcome in my garden in any case.